The two main components for following FAM are taking your temperature and observing your cervical fluid.

At the same time each morning, before you do anything, take your waking/basal body temperature (BBT). Once you have taken your temperature, record it on your chart.

Each morning, my alarm goes off at 6:30 am and I immediately put my thermometer in my mouth. Once it beeps, I take it out, read the temperature and record it using my Kindara app.

The second component is observing your cervical fluid. Cervical fluid can basically be categorized as dry, sticky, creamy or slippery/egg white. It is recommended to check your cervical fluid 3 times a day, including the morning and night.

I observe my cervical fluid throughout the day and record the ‘findings’ each evening on my chart.

Charting plays a key factor in FAM, if you are properly recording your temperatures and cervical fluid classifications, then you will know when you are approaching ovulation and when you ovulate. This knowledge is informative both as birth control or if you are trying to achieve pregnancy.

You cannot simply rely on charting your temperature or observing cervical fluid, it is necessary to observe both of those factors to get an accurate picture of where your body is in your cycle. There are also general guidelines to follow regarding the times it is ‘safe’ to have intercourse if you’re using FAM as birth control that are too complicated to go into here. (They are detailed in the book Taking Charge of Your Fertility which I highly recommend you read if you are interested in FAM.)

This is just a brief overview of the basics, don’t use this information alone to try to naturally avoid pregnancy.

For under $100, you can purchase all the tools needed to keep track of your cycles and avoid pregnancy. That’s a one time cost, unlike the recurring expenses of hormonal birth control. And, when you’re ready to achieve pregnancy, you are already aware of your cycles and when you ovulate!

Over 3 years ago, I purchased my first jar of coconut oil just to give it a try. When I bought that first jar, I wasn’t sure how to use it but I started substituting the coconut oil for vegetable oil with wonderful results. It’s now the main oil I use in my cooking and it’s a versatile item to have in the home both for cooking and other uses!

Uses for coconut oil in cooking:

Replacement for vegetable (corn, canola, etc.) oils in its liquid form

Replacement for shortening in its solid form

Greasing baking pans

Sautéing

We use it most frequently making omelets (or ‘egg pizza’ as Paxton calls them!)

Other uses for coconut oil:

As a moisturizing lotion

Lip moisturizer

In place of diaper cream for my boys (it’s cloth diaper safe)

For cradle cap

I’ve tried several different brands but my favorite has been Tropical Traditions virgin coconut oil. You can definitely tell a quality difference through the smell and texture of Tropical Traditions virgin coconut oil. It has a pleasant coconut aroma but doesn’t have a strong coconut flavor in foods.

One of the features of this oil that makes it worth the extra cost is that it is hand crafted in small batches by family producers and is the highest quality coconut oil they offer. If the virgin coconut oil is more than your budget will allow, Tropical Traditions also carries other varieties of affordable high quality coconut oil.

Disclaimer: Tropical Traditions provided me with a sample of this product to review and I was under no obligation to review.I was not compensated in any other way. All opinions expressed in this post are my own!